The Ends of Hell
by Aaron Jitsukawa
Summary: A trap. That's all it was and we fell for it, all ten thousand of us. In truth, there was no actual signs that it would happen. That's besides the point. What matters is that we're all stuck in this hell until we defeat the final boss on floor 100, problem is that it'll be a long time before we get there...
1. Alpha Beta Gamma

**Chapter 1: Αlpha Beta Gamma**

A young girl stood in front of a weapon vendor's stall, intently staring at the selection of beginner's weapons. I couldn't help but step up to her and offer my thoughts.

"I would suggest the knife for you, it might not do as much damage as a short sword does, but I think you'll find it easier to use."

She gave a slight jump when I suddenly talked to her, but her attention turned back to the vendor. Upon touching the knife, a purchase confirmation window popped up in the air above it. She attempted to tap the confirm button but was met with an insufficient funds error.

"Here, let me."

I bought a knife and gave it to her, she accepted it without hesitation.

_I am a beta tester of Sword Art Online and as such, I'm a bit more familiar with the game than a large majority of the players are. Some can figure it out on their own, others have a little difficulty. Whenever I see someone that looks like they need help, I always make it a point to see if I can do anything._

"T-thank you. Um, can you help me with something? I don't really understand how this game works." She stuttered as she asked for help, as if she was afraid I'd just leave her.

Just as I was about to answer, I spied a trio of men out of the corner of my eye. One of them pointed at me and they all suddenly were charging at me.

"I have something to do right now, friend me and I'll get back to you. Oh, my name's Fuyuki by the way." I told the girl before taking off down a street with the three men in pursuit.

_A lot of the beta testers used their prior knowledge to benefit only themselves. This meant taking all the good farming spots, the quests with the best rewards, and an unfair advantage over those who didn't know how the best way to spec their skills and stats. As you can probably guess, this created a very deep hatred for all the beta testers, regardless of whether they were guilty or not._

I dashed through the streets, making my way through the vast main city of the first floor. I soon found myself at a dead end. Cornered, all I could do was turn to face them.

"Let me guess, now you're going to demand I hand over all my gear, drag me outside city limits, then throw me to the mobs. Right?"

"That's right kid. Now how about you be a good boy and fork it over. You already know what's going to happen if you don't." He cracked his knuckles to appear more menacing.

"Oh no, they're going to kill me. Someone save me." I deadpanned.

"Don't mock me, brat. It's three against one, you're in no position to talk like that." They started to approach me.

I wagged a finger at them. "No. That's where you're wrong." The other members of my party appeared from the shadows, one from behind me, two on the rooftops, and two behind them. I let a cocky smirk spread across my face.

"Dammit, you set us up? Who are you?" They were visibly panicking now.

"Just a member of Delta. Now, how about you give us all the gear you stole from the other betas and we'll think about letting you three off just this time?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: As you can tell, this will be a heavily OC-based story; however, it will involve the main characters, so you can look forward to seeing them.<strong>

**Until next chapter - AJ**


	2. Rats and Silicone

**Chapter 2: Rats and Silicone**

_In the end, the three decided that it would be best to give us at least the majority of the gear they stole. We let them go with a threat to find them if they ever attacked other players again._

"Hey, Argo. I got the stuff back." I said to a hooded figure leaning against a wall in the city square. I sent a trade request to her.

"Took you long enougH." She sighed and accepted the trade request. "You know, we can't make the raid party meeting by the time we're done with thiS."

I chucked as I finished loading the gear into the trade menu. "I'm well aware. Besides, we both know about this boss already, don't we?" I confirmed the trade.

She confirmed the trade on her side and began sending messages to the rightful owners of the equipment. "I suppose sO. That still doesn't mean that we should listen to their planS."

"I'll get the others to tell us their party's job when we get there." I glanced at the list of names in her hand. "Hey, you need me to check the memorial for those?"

"No, I already diD." She sent another message and stopped. "It's sad, isn't iT? All those names already on the memoriaL. And we haven't even cleared the first boss yeT."

"It is. And it'll only get worse." I looked up to the space where Kayaba was when he broke the news to us. "Why'd he have to trap us in here?"

"We'll probably never knoW." She began walking away. "Yuu-bou, come on, we have to deliver these itemS."

"Gotcha."

* * *

><p>"Oh." I said out loud as I scrolled through my friend list.<p>

"Hmm?" Argo asked as she checked through the remaining gear that couldn't be claimed due to the owner being deceased.

"I forgot about that girl I promised to help in the marketplace. Sorry Argo, you'll have to go to the raid without me." I typed out a message to the girl whose name was apparently Silica.

"What?" She stopped for a second. "I guess it's too late to join the raid party noW. I'm coming with yoU."

* * *

><p><em>It seemed that the girl had been trying to use her new knife, but gave up soon after finding that she was had difficulties killing even a [Frenzy Boar]. She had been waiting all those hours for me. If I had made <em>_her_ _wait this long, I don't think I would make it back alive, considering how ticked she gets if I make her wait even a few minutes._

"I thought you forgot about me."

"Sorry about that, Silica. I had important work to do."

She peeked around me. "Um, Fuyuki-san, who's that?"

"Just Argo, she wanted to tag along for some reason." Argo found a large rock nearby and promptly sat on it to watch us. "Don't worry about her. Anyway, how much do you know about fighting with bladed weapons?"

"Um, keep the sharp part away from you?" Silica gave me a sheepish grin.

"I- Well, it's something." This might be a little harder than I thought. "Let's see. How about this? Try copying me." I drew my sword and made a diagonal slice in the air.

"Like this?" She made the same diagonal slice, but her form was all off.

* * *

><p><em>It took at least an hour to fix her form. Argo stepped in a few times to throw in some of her own knowledge as well. Silica decided that holding her knife with a reverse grip was easiest. The next half hour was used for teaching her how to use skills and the hour after that was used for practicing fighting monsters.<em>

"I think that should be it for today." The moon had already risen by this time, bathing the landscape in a bluish light.

"Argo-san, what's that on your left waist?" Silica said, pointing to the odd weapons hanging off Argo's belt.

"1000 coR."

"Eh?"

"I'll show you if you give me 1000 coR."

"Argo, play nice."

"Fine, 500 coR."

"Argo!"

"Tch, I'll do it for free just this timE." She equipped her claws and drew a throwing spike from the holster on her right.

She threw the pick at a nearby [Frenzy Boar] to aggro it and immediately got in a battle stance. The claws glowed a deep purple before activating the 3-hit skill Wild Dance

"Wow." Silica mused as she watched Argo. "Can I learn how to do that, Fuyuki-san?"

"I don't think you should. First of all, claws are extremely difficult to use. You can take my word on that. Secondly, they're expensive not only to obtain, but also to maintain. And thirdly, they have very low base damage." I looked to Argo for her input. "Anything that I'm missing?"

"They also have low stun times, long skill cooldown times, and only work well in one-on-one battleS. But, there's a quite a few skills you can chain together to make strong comboS."

Silica clearly looked disappointed. "Oh, I see."

"Don't get too down, Argo's been working on it since the beta."

"You two were in the beta?"

Argo quickly grabbed me and pulled me to the side. "You know it's not a good idea to tell everyone you're a betA. Can we really trust her not to tell anyonE?"

"Don't worry about it, I heard that someone's taking all the blame towards the beta by calling himself a 'Beater'. It's apparently supposed to mean that he's using his knowledge from being a beta to cheat the game and get ahead of everyone else. You of all people should know this, Miss Info Broker."

"Well, I didn't get any info from my sources yeT."

"They did only kill the boss a few minutes ago. I got an update from Delta."

"Hmm, maybe you can find me infO. How much cor you wanT?"

"How about twenty percent."

"Too high, five percenT."

"Fifteen."

"Ten percent, highest I'm goinG."

"Fine. Why do you even need that much cor for anyway?"

"Um." Silica called from behind us.

"Oh. Uh, good work. It's getting late, you should probably get some rest. Why don't we go to the second floor to find an inn?" I began walking to the starting city so we could use the teleport gate, but stopped and turned to face Argo. "By the way, your information on the boss was inaccurate and someone died because of it. Now everyone hates the one who calls himself a 'Beater.' I think you owe him an apology."

"I think so toO. What's the Beater's namE?" Argo said opening her messenger.

"It's Kirito." She looked shocked upon hearing the name. "Yeah, I know. I wouldn't have expected him to do something like that either. Then again, he was mainly a solo player. I guess he wouldn't be affected by it too much."

"Looks like I owe him for something yet agaiN."

"Anyway, we should go, Silica. See you Argo." We waved to her as she typed out her message to Kirito.

"Thank you, Fuyuki-san. But, um, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well, I usually help all the newbies whenever I can, but there's something else… Hmm… I think it's because you remind me of my sister, when she's cute anyway. Most of the time, she's completely irritable." I grimaced at the thought of getting her pissed off.

Silica giggled lightly. "Your sister sounds like an interesting person."

"Yep, an interesting girl, that one. Anyway, this is the teleport gate. You stand on it and say 'teleport' followed by the name of the city you want to go to. And the name of the main city of floor 2 is Urbus." I led Silica up to the platform. "Ready?"

"Teleport: Urbus."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry for the boring chapter, I promise it'll get interesting soon. Anyway, staying true to the light novels, I made sure to include Argo's inflection, despite it being a bit strange to type and read. I also took a few liberties with claws since they weren't exactly explained in detail.<strong>

**Review Reply Corner:**

** ThisIsTheGreastestUsername: ****Those three were one of the Beta hunting groups that formed during the period of hate against the betas, they would most likely get requests to find and kill them by various players. While you don't know it yet, one of the members of Delta is very good at manipulating people to do what she wants.**

**I guess that's all for now, AJ signing out.**


	3. Delta

**Chapter 3: Delta**

"Alright, I know it's a bit early, but I think we should start looking into finding a good source of cor." Said the girl with her brown hair tied in a ponytail.

_Alice. Otherwise known in-game as Echo. A classmate from school, we're pretty familiar with each other already. Her brown hair is usually kept at a mid-back length and in a ponytail. She's quite the tomboyish type and she participates in a lot of sports._

"I agree. An ample supply of money on hand would allow us to partake in many wonderful delicacies without worry of bankruptcy." Said the girl to Alice's left.

_Rina, or Angelica, is one of Alice's friends from school. She always has a smile on her face and kind words for everyone. She is a bit gluttonous though, so she thinks about food a lot..._

"Eh? Why can't we just go killin' monsters like we always do? We get some cash for every one of 'em we kill." The girl with her feet propped up on the table said.

_Yet another one of Alice's friends, Jennifer, username Sayoko, is a rough, self-confident teenager with an attitude. While her outward appearance suggests rebellious child, she's actually quite the hard worker._

"Are you stupid? Farming hardly gets you any gold compared to quests, not to mention that it wastes equipment durability and potions. Even an idiot such as you should have known that." Said the petite girl with her hair dyed crimson.

_Misaki, ign same, is a member of my class at school. She's only a couple months younger than me, yet she treats me with the same hot headed disrespect that she gives everyone else. I got used to it though, it took a few years, but I'm hardly phased by her insults now._

"The hell'd ya say? You wanna fight?"

"Now, now. Don't fight, you two. How about some kind of shop?" Asked the tall boy standing between Jen and Misaki.

_Hikaru, same as ign, is also a member of my class. He's by far the oldest out of this group. Years of being the star of the school's baseball team left him in perfect fitness. He usually plays his part as the mediator among our group. He mostly acts as an older brother to all of us._

"A shop? That sounds like a good idea, maybe a smithy or a carpenter's shop." I said. I thought for a second. "Then again, the first few floors don't have any kind of ore that you could possibly refine to make weapons and no one's going to need stuff from a carpenter until people start buying houses…"

_Finally, there's me. My name's Fuyuki, my in-game name's the same. Nothing too special about me, I'm not athletic or a genius or artistic, the best I've got is video games. I've loved games ever since I picked a controller up when I was six. And now, a decade later, I got me and all my friends trapped in a death game. Real smooth, Fuyuki, real smooth._

"PotionS. Potions will sell fast considering that everyone who doesn't want to die is going to keep a large stock on theM." Argo said as she closed the door behind her and pulled her hood off.

_Argo, someone I met during the Sword Art Online beta test. While she's good with her claws, her real skill comes from swindling people out of their money - is what I'd like to say, but her actual talent is her dedication to gathering and selling information for cor. She might seem greedy, but she means well. She did write the beginners' information guide to help the newbies starting out, after all._

Argo found herself a chair and sat facing the wrong way. "Sure, at this point, you'll only be able to make potions that heal the same amount as the NPC shops, but you'll be able to build a decent customer base that can help you when you can make stronger potionS."

"That sounds like a good idea, but it'll only help for the lower levels. When we get to the stronger monsters, crystals are going to become the main source of health regen since they're faster than potions."

"So it's decided, Yuu will make potions until we can get a blacksmith or woodworker's shop." Alice declared while standing up.

Argo waved her hand to catch our attentions. "Anyway, I came here to tell you all that they found the second boss rooM. They're planning to clear it todaY."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

><p>When the unnecessarily large doors of the boss room was opening, we found that it appeared to have collapsed. Rubble lying around, chunks of the walls and floor missing. With no monsters in sight, but I knew better.<p>

"Hold on." I told the group as they slowly advanced into the room. "You all might want to stay here for a bit." As I approached a massive pile of rubble, I pulled a tower shield from my inventory.

"Aw hell, this was a stupid idea. Well, whatever." I took another step forward and the entire room suddenly lit up and the rubble formed into a large humanoid shape. I quickly got into a defensive position before it slammed one of its giant arms into me, sending me flying.

I skidded to a stop in front of the lead group and immediately drank a potion to replenish my low health. Four smaller versions of the Stone Golem formed from other bunches of rubble around the room.

"Alright, let's crack some skulls!" Shouted Jen as she launched a nearby golem into the air with her oversized war hammer.

"Yeeeaaaahhhh!" The entire raid party rushed in and immediately split up into their respective squads.

"Stay behind the tanks and hit it after it attacks!" The party leader directed everyone else around as the battle begun.

Delta's golem was down so we took position behind Hikaru, who was the heaviest armored of all of us. The Stone Golem was an enemy that hits hard, but took time to prepare for another attack. The best way to deal with it is a hit-and-run tactic, despite how long it takes. When it's on its last health bar, it switches to a more aggressive mode. It gains a few new attacks: a stomp that dislodges large rocks from the ceiling, and the ability to launch parts of its body at players.

"Speed type attackers only! Everyone else move back!" Shouted the party leader as he switched from a claymore to the faster falchion.

I looked to my sides while I ran toward the boss, Alice with her rapier, Rina with a knife, and Misaki with a short sword. "Make sure not to get hit by anything, one hit and you're down in the red."

"Like I'd be able to get hit by something so slow." Alice replied with a grin.

"We'll see about that!" The four of us moved away as the golem slammed its arm down at where we were in an attempt to crush us. "Jump on its arm!"

Now that we were on it, we could get to its head - the only weak spot in this phase. We chipped away at the rocky shell until we revealed a glowing orb, the golem's core. As we slashed at its core, the golem became more and more erratic and determined in trying to shake us off, but we held on until it finally collapsed and shattered into millions of tiny blue polygons.

The party erupted in cheer as the room displayed "Congratulations!" and gave us all a post-battle report.

"Good work!" Said the party leader as he slapped me on the back. "You're a beta, aren't you? I could tell from the way you fight. Thanks for the help!"

"No problem." I relaxed at the thought of people accepting the betas as opposed to being hostile towards them.

"Shall we go to activate the teleport gate on Floor 3?" Rina said with a smile.

I sheathed my sword and opened the doors to the stairs that led to the next floor. "Alright Delta, let's go open that gate."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: This chapter was basically used to introduce all the members of Delta. Alice, Rina, Jennifer, Hikaru, Misaki, and Fuyuki. They all attended the same school in real life before joining SAO. You can look forward to seeing them more often.<strong>

**That's all for now, Kawa out.**


End file.
